What is an assigned sex?
When someone is born, they will usually be assigned a sex.
When you assign something, you give it to someone.
An assigned sex could be:
People with intersex variations are usually assigned as female or male at birth, but may have innate sex characteristics that do not fit what doctors expect for female or male bodies.
People can be identified as Intersex at birth, in early childhood, at puberty or later in life.
Hormones help to work out what sex a person is.
Hormones are chemicals inside people’s bodies.
People with more of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone are usually assigned female.
People with more of the hormone testosterone are usually assigned male.
A person’s assigned sex might be different to their gender. You can learn about gender on the Gender page of this website.
